Las Peñas & Cerro Santa Ana

Lonely Planet review

These two historic neighborhoods have been refurbished into an idealized version of a quaint South American hillside village, all brightly painted homes and cobblestone alleyways. If you peek inside an open door or window, however, you realize it's a bit of a Potemkin village that's not entirely sanitized as residents still live their everyday lives as they would elsewhere in the city.

Everyone strolling the Malecón ends up here, especially at night when the views from the top are spectacular. There are several stylish and attractive bars, and it's completely safe - though one of the friendly security officers may stop you for walking up or down the wrong side of the steep stairway so as not to impede the heavy foot traffic. There are future plans to create a Disneyfied port area below Las Peñas.

The historic street of Numa Pompillo Llona, named after the guayaquileño (1832-1907) who wrote the national anthem, begins at the northern end of the Malecón, to the right of the stairs that head up the hill called Cerro Santa Ana. Several artists live in the area, and there are a few good galleries, including the eponymous Quimbita Galeria, which doubles as a bar and showpiece for the large canvasses of this highly regarded artist.

Numa Pompillo Llona is a dead-end street, so retrace your footsteps and instead of continuing back along the Malecón, hang a sharp right and head up the steps of Cerro Santa Ana. The stairs lead past dozens of refurbished, brightly painted homes, cafés, bars and souvenir shops, and up to the hilltop fort Fortín del Cerro ('Fort of the Hill'). Cannons, which were once used to protect Guayaquil from pirates, aim over the parapet toward the river and are still fired today during celebrations. You can climb the lighthouse for spectacular 360-degree views of the city and its rivers.

Back at the bottom of the hill, if you walk inland from the stairway, you'll see the open-air theater Teatro Bogotá. Behind the theater is the oldest church in Guayaquil, the Church of Santo Domingo. The church, which is worth a look, was founded in 1548 and restored in 1938.